Lever latch mechanism



June 28, 1955 Walter Retscher Mattza De An e10 INVEN 0R8.

ATTORNEY United States Patent LEVER LATCH MECHANISM Walter Reischer and Mattia De Angelo, Bronx, N. Y., as-

signors to Burndy Engineering Company, Inc., a corporation of New York This invention relates to a latching mechanism and more particularly to a holder for releasably looking a foot lever.

In the operation of any mechanism having a control lever it is usually desirable to provide a safety latching means to lock the lever in a non-operative position and releasable for lever operation. This is especially desirable where the lever is associated with a portable unit where the component parts must be bound together for transporting and storage. Such unit may, for example, be a portable foot pump unit to be supported on a floor and the device operated by foot pressure on the lever.

Heretofore it was customary to bind the foot lever to the unit by a conventional flexible leather strap. The use of such a strap has disadvantages in that the strap is relatively expensive, requires frequent replacement due to wear, is separable from the unit and easily misplaced, and furthermore requires the operator to stoop down to release or lock the foot lever in position.

Accordingly it is a primary object of our invention to provide a holder for a lever that can be mounted to a supporting structure and readily movable thereon from a position to lock the lever, to a position Where the holder permits unrestricted movement of the lever, and which holder will remain in either position until intentionally moved.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a holder that is resiliently and rotatably mounted to a supporting member.

' Still other objects of our invention are to provide a holder for a lever that is made of an integral piece of sheet material; to provide a holder that can be readily attached and removed from its supporting structure for replacement; to provide a holder that can be readily moved by a foot of an operator of the device foregoing the necessity of stooping; and to provide a lever holder that is durable, and of simple and economical construction.

We accomplish these and other objects and obtain our new results as will be apparent from the device described in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in Which-- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a foot pump unit on which our novel lever holder may be utilized, and

Fig. 2 a cross-sectional view taken along line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing character it} designates a foot pump A holder 17 is provided to secure the foot lever 12 in an assembled position with respect to the cylinder 11 which may form a support therefor. The holder 17 is constructed of a resilient material, which may be metal, plastic or any suitable material. A spring tempered steel strip has been found to be satisfactory.

As illustrated in Fig. 2 the holder 17 comprises an intermediate section 18 having at one end a loop or clip 19 which extends around a supporting member, such as the cylinder 11. The clip 19 terminates in a free end 20 spaced from the intermediate section 18 a distance less than the diameter of the cylinder 11. The clip when free has a diameter less than the diameter of the cylinder 11 and is biased by the resiliency of the material to permit the clip 19 to be opened and snap mounted over the cylinder to be supported in any desired position.

It is preferable that the clip 19 be substantially cylindrical to conform to the outer contour of the cylinder and permit rotation thereon, and to provide a good frictional engagement to prevent unintentional movement of the holder, such as by vibration of the unit. The circular configuration also uses a minimum of space which would not be achieved by providing other shaped clips which unit comprising a cylinder 11, a foot lever 12 pivoted at 13 to actuate a pump plunger 14. The tension spring 15 biases the foot lever 12 to an upper position as indicated in dot-dash lines in Fig. 1. The hose 16 may lead to a tool or the like, not shown, to be operated by the fluid pressure developed by the pump. While we have illustrated a particular installation having a lever assembly it is expressly understood that it is only illustrative of one of the many types of devices on which our invention may be utilized.

might also function. There is however sufficient resiliency in the clip 19 to permit rotation on the cylinder and to maintain its position when intentionally moved. A projection or lip 21 is provided on the free end 2 3 to facilitate convenient movement of the holder by a foot of the operator in a manner to be described later.

The other end of the intermediate section 13 is provided with a loop or hook 22 which is adapted to extend over the foot lever 12 to restrain the upward movement of the foot lever under the action of spring 15. The spring maintains a tight assembly between the holder 17,

' foot lever 12 and cylinder 11 whenthe hook 22 engages the lever.

The intermediate section 18, clip 1.9 and hook 22 are preferably made of an integral piece of material to facilitate manufacture. The clip 19 may extend from one side of the intermediate section 18 in a direction opposite to the hook 22 creating an S-shaped piece to provide a greater circumferential gripping surface of the clip 19 on the cylinder, however the configuration of the holder 17 may vary according to the arrangement of the lever of the particular unit to which the holder is to be attached and the direction in which the holder is to be actuated by the operator.

When the holder 17 is attached to the unit or the cylinder by the clip 19 and the hook engages the foot lever 12, the unit can be conveniently carried by utilizing the foot lever as a handle. The holder 17 also binds the unit in a secured assembly to facilitate packaging and storage.

When the pump unit is to be operated and placed on thefloor or other supporting structure, the operator may depress the foot lever 12 with one foot to disengage the foot lever from the hook 22, and with the other foot rotate the holder, preferably by the lip extension 21, out of the path of the foot lever to'permit movement thereof. The resiliency of the clip 19 maintains the holder in a deflected position, as shown in dot-dash lines in Fig. 2. When it is desired to lock the foot lever in an inoperative position for any purpose, the foot lever is depressed and the holder is rotated back to its original position through engagement of the lip extension 21 by a foot of the operator to a position where the hook 22 extends over the foot lever. When the foot lever is released, the tension spring 15 forces the lever upward into engagement with the hook 22 to be locked thereto.

We have thus provided a lever holder that can be easiiy and removably installed on a supporting member; that can be rotated by a foot of the operator to an engaging or disengaging position with respect to the foot lever, and which can be maintained in either position until intentional movement; and that is of a simple, economical and durable construction. Where the material of the holder is not made of resilient material, the clip may be constructed of several parts, and additional means such as a spring, not shown, may be utilized to resiliently support the clip to the supporting structure.

We have thus described our invention, but we desire it understood that it is not confined to the'particular forms or uses shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of our invention, and, therefore, we claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means of which, objects of our invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to attain these objects and accomplish these results.

We claim:

1. In a portable foot operated tool provided with a longitudinally extending body section having a cylindrical portion and a fiat supporting structure for resting the tool longitudinally on the ground, and a lever pivoted to said body section at one end thereof and projecting longitudinally over said body for operating said tool, a latching means for mounting rotatably about said body at said cylindrical portion and having an integral open hook having a fixed shape for engaging the lever and for holding the lever substantially parallel to and immediately above the body section, and an integral arm provided with a foot engaging surface enabling the hook to be moved by the foot in disengaging position with respect to the lever, and means for holdingsaid latching means in any rotated position on said body.

2. In the portable foot operated tool of claim 1, wherein the latching means comprises a resilient sheet metal stamping, the means for holding the latching means in any rotated position comprising the resiliency of the sheet metal in gripping the body section on said cylindrical portion and the integral arm and hook positioned at opposite ends of the latching means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 810,004 Tabler Jan. 16, 1906 1,248,843 Gay Dec. 4, 1917 1,861,151 Buschman May 31, 1932 1,880,732 Bolens Oct. 4, 1932 1,882,095 Reggitts Oct. 11, 1932 1,966,593 ORussa July 17, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 580,308 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1946 

